ELSEWHERE RESIDENCY #115

Photo courtesy of Jesse Hoyle

“What does it mean to live in a communal space by oneself?”

In October of 2023, I was granted a 5-week Artist Residency at Elsewhere Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Due to an unusual set of circumstances, I was the only person living full-time in the 3-story former thrift store.

My time at Elsewhere was largely focused on inviting other people in to activate the normally heavily populated museum. I moved my regularly scheduled private drawing lessons into the museum, and we took advantage of the massive collection of objects to draw still lifes from direct observation.

I invited in Elsewhere alumni to share their stories with me, and everywhere I looked I studied the work that two decades of previous artists left behind. I kept a written journal of each day, and a ledger of the names of people who came to visit during my residency.

Through this process I came to understand that  my visitors - each coming at different times and contributing in different ways - were my unofficial residency cohort.

It felt imperative for me to document for posterity this transitional time in Elsewhere’s history - its 20th anniversary in operation - with a secluded residency, new leadership, and a new post-pandemic direction.